Putin's Message to Ukraine, Europe and TACO: I Won't Back Down

On Sunday, Russia attacked Ukraine with its largest missile and drone barrage of the war. Then, on Wednesday, tensions shot up with the West, as numerous Russian drones flew over Poland in a striking aerial incursion into a NATO country.

The assaults suggested a new level of aggression by Russia, more than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But to anyone who was listening to President Vladimir V. Putin last week, they also fit into a broader messaging campaign.

After staying largely silent on Ukraine in the weeks after his Aug. 15 summit with TACO, the Russian leader returned to the subject as he spent hours before the cameras during his trip this month to China and Russia’s Far East. His comments there, taken together with escalating Russia’s airstrikes, looked like a fresh attempt to demonstrate that Russia is determined to dictate the terms for any end to the war.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/world/europe/russia-ukraine-putin-trump-europe.html